Expert of political and election technology Armen Badalyan qualifies PAP’s decision not to run in the 2013 presidential elections as not solemn victory of the incumbent president.
He notes that in the upcoming presidential elections, the main three main players were the RPA, the PAP and the ANC.
“Since now the PAP has adopted a neutral position, and made such a statement, there will be a formal competition, because the ANC’s influence is weaker than the RPA’s. By not participating in the elections the PAP, of course, keeps its position, but deprives the incumbent President of a major competition and solemn victory. That means, the presidential elections have finished, not even being started,” says Badalyan.
Why the PAP announced about not nominating a candidate so late, Badalyan believes that “most likely” the negotiation phase was going on with the other partners and geopolitical forces, as a result of which they came to this conclusion.
